Together Again
by Deathcrest
Summary: And as he climbed his way towards the building, his thoughts were on one thing: on one raven-haired man who would always be more of a father than his own ever was.


**Disclaimer: All rights are reserved for the FMA Franchise Company and to Evanescence and Wind-Up Records, said band's label.**

**AN: **_Normally, most stories I write for the FMA Archive consists of Royai or EdWin. And most, if not all, of them are romance-oriented. So, I'm planning to start writing for another genre that is not romance-oriented._

_This will have Roy and Ed as the subject points, but __**this is not YAOI. You have no idea how much yaoi freaking scares me. :\**_

_**The song is "Together Again" by the most awesome, most badass, most freaking cool band in the world: Evanescence.**_

* * *

><p>The shine of the stars of the sky was like a blurry, cosmic memory to him. When had been the last time he had seen stars? Funny…Berlin never had stars. He never saw the stars in the bleak, factorized city. The smog and the blast of artificial lighting had always stopped him from seeing these majestic points across the dark backdrop.<p>

So…where did these stars come from?

He looked around, his body still burning with pain from the accident. Litters of mechanical contraptions flooded the area. There were beams and bolts and cranes and other equipment that he could not recognize for they have been destroyed into oblivion.

_Never thought that I'd be leaving you today,__  
><em>_So alone and wondering why I feel this way.__  
><em>_so wide the world,__  
><em>_Can love remember how to get me home to you__  
><em>_someday?  
><em>

His eyes passed by the other side, seeing the mountainside and the trees. He stilled. Berlin did not have mountainsides and trees. He turned his head the other way, gritting his teeth through the pain. His eyes widened, his heart fluttering with new hope. There were buildings. Buildings he recognized. Buildings not from Berlin.

Buildings from…Central.

With hope burning in his chest, he pushed himself up. He held back the moan of pain as he tried to stand with his wobbly legs. His clothing was torn and there were many burn marks on his skin as a result from his and Alfons Heiderich's experimenting, but it didn't matter to him. He was here, he was back.

With a burst of optimism that he was surprised to discover in himself, Edward tottered towards Central, caring not for the intense pain shooting up his legs after being fallen upon by heavy machinery. He was quite sure that he would regret it later but he didn't care. It was something he would willingly pay to be back again._  
><em>

_We'll be together again,__  
><em>_all just a dream in the end.__  
><em>_We'll be together again._

As he walked past the streets of Central, memories came flooding back into his mind. Memories of his mother, his father, his brother. Flashes of images, holding people in blue uniforms, went through his mind, eliciting a tired smile from his face. Memories of a certain raven-haired man, who was as bossy, as arrogant and as lazy as he.

Unknowingly, he grinned. The people he passed by as he made his way to the one place he felt safe looked at him weirdly, cautiously. They must think him a madman, but he didn't care. Safety and security. He needed those two things.

As he climbed up the steps, the great silver building gleamed in the moonlight. He was here. He was here, now. Headquarters.

_So many fears were swimming around and around in my mind.__  
><em>_Who would have dreamed the secrets we would find?_

He looked around, noting the obscure darkness covering the building. It was empty, isolated and cold. Still, he didn't care. He made way towards the doors, banging his fists on the entrance, hearing its echoing thud inside the building. It hurt his fists to bang it against the door but Edward was now past caring.

Then it hit him.

Idiot.

He clapped his hands together and laid it weakly on the doors. A burst of blue light and a large hole appeared on the doors. Realizing that using alchemy had robbed him of his strength, Edward fell to his knees and grit his teeth as the fresh wounds throbbed in agony. He crawled his way towards the doors, climbing up the wall and heaving himself unto the concrete floor of the headquarter lobby.

Seconds, minutes, hours and ages passed as Edward struggled to breathe and find the energy in himself to continue. He was almost there. He imagined the man's tender gaze, the man's concern. He got himself up on his elbows and crawled his way into the familiar path that left him filled with a blast of nostalgia.

The moon had long disappeared and the sky was now beginning to lighten, the violet hue disappearing for a glowing bluish one.

He climbed up the steps on all fours, moaning when his wounded knees hit the cold floor, leaving bloodied marks on the steps. Still, he persevered. If there was one thing he learned from that man was that he should never give up.

And hell would be damned if he did.

God, even though he never believed in Him, seemed to favor Edward as familiar office doors came into his sight. Grasping the wall, Edward made himself stand, his legs feeling as if it would give way any moment now. He took one shaky step, and then another. He continued this way, tightly grasping the wall for support. Each step brought him closer to the place that he felt safe, secure and loved. Light began to cleave the sky as he reached for the knob and opened it.

Emptiness greeted him as he opened the doors. He knew that no one would be in the office, since it was probably near morning, but that did not stop the lance of disappointment and sorrow that shot in him. Slowly, he struggled to walk forward; to that _one_ place he felt the safest.

He wondered when he had begun to identify _that_ place to be where he would feel comforted, but it no longer annoyed him. Something had changed inside him in all those years away from Central, from his world. It made things and people seem more important to him. Especially that raven-haired man that Edward looked up to like a father.

As he passed the desks, he let his mind identify them, letting his emotions take calmness. Havoc's desk was still messy and a pack of cigarettes were atop it; Fuery's were neat and ordered and a pair of glasses stood by the side; Falman's desk was clear of paperwork and only a pen was on top of it and Hawkeye's desk was filled with paperwork orderly prepared with the words "For Col. Mustang" written atop it.

Reading the words, the _name_, brought Edward's focus back to his task. Once he passed Hawkeye's desk, he came towards _his_ desk.

It was still messy as usual, and there bits of knickknacks atop it. There was even a card that said "Call me, Lily". Just a bit amused, he let himself laugh, though it sounded hoarse and pained. The guy still had not let his feelings be known to his blonde lieutenant. After all these years, the man still hadn't gotten the guts to tell Hawkeye he was damn in love with her.

He shook his head. Things were always the same.

Slowly, he made his way to the man's seat, painfully pulling the chair out and sitting on it, breathing in relief at his arduous task. He was about to lay his arms on the desk when something caught his eyes.

It was as slip of something, caught in between the drawer and the table ledge. Curious, he pulled out the drawer and stared into golden eyes not unlike his own. He was looking into a picture of himself, the edges worn as if it was in use for a long time.

He took it out and held it gently in his hands, looking at his younger self. It was probably when he was still new to the military. When he was still full of hope and optimism.

Turning it around, he read the words written on the backside. He recognized the writing, seeing it was _his._

"_I miss you, son."_

_I've found a world where love and dreams and darkness all collide.__  
><em>_Maybe this time we can leave our broken world behind._

At the same time, he heard footsteps coming up the hallway. Curious, afraid and shocked at the words written behind the photo, he put it back in the drawer and stood.

He struggled towards the doors, each step slow and weary. It was like the world was on his shoulders. He reached for the door, halfway there.

His hands outstretched, the doors opened and in came the man Edward longed to see. His back was turned, as if he was looking out for something before he closed the doors and turned.

The man turned, and he looked into dark onyx eyes that shined like black diamonds. The man froze, his mouth slightly open and his gloved hands about to snap, about to send alchemy-borne flames at him.

He reached out towards him, arms reaching out when the man saw past the grime and the blood, the tears and the ashes.

"Fullmetal? Is that you?"

Damn it! Why did he have to call him Fullmetal? Why did he have to be so fucking proper, so fucking prim and formal? Can't he see that Edward needed comfort, needed familiarity? He wanted his father, his _dad_! Not the fucking Flame Alchemist!

Can't he be comforted by his father? Can't he rest in his arms for a while before life fucked with him again?

Tears starting anew, he stepped close, reaching out for him. He tumbled towards the man, and gripped his sides, laying his head upon his chest, feeling his legs give way to the exhaustion that was nipping at his heels since he first awoke.

Immediately, strong warm arms wrapped themselves around his frame, holding him up, holding him.

"Edward." That single word ignited the flames in his heart and he nodded against the man's chest, tears leaking unto the blue lapels of the man's uniform.

"You're back. You're here." The man said, his voice going thick with an emotion that made Edward feel warm and happy.

Then, he felt himself being carried, an arm on his shoulder and another holding the back of his knees, feeling himself hugged tighter against the man in this protective embrace.

At last, he opened his eyes, and looked up into the face of the man that he now called his father and saw tears leaking out of his black eyes, trailing down his pale cheeks and past his smiling lips.

"Roy…Dad." He smiled weakly, his arms tightening across the man's neck. His words seemed to cause more tears from the man, seeing new trails past his cheeks.

Then, in a voice that broke a little with emotion, the man spoke. "Let's get you home, son."

_We'll be together again,  
><em>_a__ll just a dream in the end__._

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>_So yes, I love and identify Roy and Edward's relationship as either paternal or fraternal. It always seemed to express itself that way whenever I watched the 2003/2009 anime and or read the manga. So sue me if you don't like it. Flamers gonna flame, I don't care. :)_


End file.
